Seller keeps title hopes alive

Despite a huge crash in the opening practice session that left him battered and bruised, Clint Seller (Neolife Yamaha R1) kept his SuperGP championship hopes alive when he took pole position and both race wins at the penultimate round of the 2016 SuperGP Champions Trophy held at Dezzi Raceway on 24 September.

Seller’s teammate, Adolf Boshoff (Neolife Yamaha R6) added a win in the second race to his third place in the opening heat to secure the 2016 Super600 title.

SuperGP

Mathew Scholtz (ETR Nashua Yamaha R1) went to Dezzi Raceway with a 39-point lead in the SuperGP title race. This gave him the freedom to just go out and score points instead of having to fight for the win in each race whereas his rivals had no choice, they had to win if they were to stop the Umhlanga based rider from taking the 2016 championship.

His closest rival, Seller, crashed hard in the opening practice session, but the Neolife Yamaha team managed to repair the damaged bike and thanked them by taking pole position on a wet track.

Race day brought an improvement in the weather and when the lights went there was no stopping the defending champion. He controlled things from the front and went on to a comfortable 4-second win.

Scholtz, realizing there was no benefit to chasing and crashing, settled for second, limiting the points loss while Gildenhuys (Kreepy Krauly / Transport.co.za Kawasaki ZX10R) fought his way through from the third row of the grid to take the final podium position.

Brent Harran, in only his second outing on the MVC Marketing Yamaha R1, comes home in fourth ahead of Brandon Goode (Linex Yamaha R1) and veteran Lance Isaacs (LIR Motorrad BMW S1000RR).

There was more of the same at the head of the second race, Seller again taking the win from Scholtz. Harran got the better of a dice with Michael White (Consortium Shipping Yamaha R1) to take the final step on the podium. Gildenhuys had to settle for fifth ahead of Isaacs.

Scholtz goes into the final round, at Red Star Raceway on 29 October, with a 29-point lead which means one win will give him the title.

SuperMasters

Isaacs, who wrapped up the 2016 SuperMasters title in Port Elizabeth, continued his unbroken run of victories in the class, taking both race wins.

Hendrik de Bruin (RSA Racing Yamaha R1) claimed the runners-up spot in the opening race with Damion Purificati (Amalgam Welding Shop Kawasaki) in third. Purificati and de Bruin swapped places in the second race.

Super600

In the absence of Steven Odendaal, who was away ion international duty, and PE race winner Kewyn Snyman, who was ruled out with a concussion after a crash during practice on Friday, Boshoff was expecting a relatively easy path to the title, especially after claiming pole position. In racing, though, things don’t always go to plan.

Blaze Baker (Uncle Andy Racing Suzuki GSXR 600) knew he had to finish in front of Boshoff to keep his slender title chances alive. This he did by taking victory from Malcolm Rudman (Megaforce Kawasaki ZX6) with Boshoff only managing a distant third.

Boshoff made no mistake in the second heat taking the victory and with it the 2016 Supe600 title, from Rudman and Baker.

Bester, Otto and Dian Nelson (Triumph) completed the top six.

SuperJunior

After moving to the top of the SuperJunior championship log following the last event Aiden Liebenberg (Fercor Construction) was not about to let anyone wrest that honour from him. He completely dominated the opening heat, winning by almost 17 seconds from Brandon Staffen.

The leading pair were followed home by Chase Hulscher (EXIS Engineering), his best result of the season. Connor Hagan and Gareth Gehlig (Formula Autos) were fifth and sixth respectively. CJ Hackart (Firequip / Elite Car Park), who set the fastest lap time of the race, recovered to finish sixth after his coming together with Tyreece Robert (Evolve Nutrition / Autostyling).

Race two was a lot closer but Liebenberg still dominated. This time, it was PE double winner Dominic Doyle in second and Staffen in third. Hackart, Gehlig and Hulscher completed the top six.

Liebenberg now has a 36-point lead at the top of the log and will have to suffer a major misfortune at Red Star Raceway if he is not to be crowned 2016 champion.

BOTTS

Jade Gutzeit (Dunlop Dezzi Raceway Ducati) took both BOTTS wins. In the first race, he was followed home by Jason Wessels (LiquiMoly KTM) and Neil van Loggerenberg (Purewealth KTM). In race two Shaun Jubber (RAD KTM RC8) took second ahead of Wessels.

The final round of the SuperGP Champions Trophy takes place at Red Star Raceway outside Delmas on Saturday, 29 October 2016.